The Fine Line
by NarwhalAttack
Summary: Preppy Laurel Castillo has always been at the top of her class, until her relationship with her superior at work exceeds unprofessional. Now she finds herself distracted by the suave and seductive Frank Delfino. However, with badgering bosses & co-workers and her real boyfriend topped with their own inability to figure out their feelings, will they ever become anything real?
1. Chapter 1

**Sooo, I just finished the first season of the show, and MAN.. I'm obsessed already! And I've especially grown obsessed with Frank and Laurel's relationship (or whatever you call what they were doing lmao). I can't wait to begin season 2, but I also couldn't wait any longer to write fics for them, so here it is.. Unfortunately, I can't write the dramatic murder storylines the way they are in the show, so I'm choosing to leave the whole Sam & Lila part out. It's AU and only focuses on the relationship and friendship aspects.**

CHAPTER 1

Laurel Castillo was formerly one of the top students of the class at Middleton University, and that wasn't to say she was no longer a good student; it was just that she had been a bit distracted lately. Normally, her complete focus would be on the exams and preparing to impress her instructor Annalise Keating (a real hardball compared to all the other teachers she had in her life). Professor Keating had hired her, as well as a few other top students, to work with her at her firm. And Laurel _greatly_ appreciated working at Annalise's firm. She was usually all in about doing her job and studying for the class, but unfortunately, she found herself the biggest distraction possible: a guy.

He wasn't just any guy, either. He was one of Annalise's employees. He had a reputation for hooking up with his students, and Bonnie (another one of Annalise's employees) had warned her about this, but she honestly didn't think too much about it. It wasn't like she was expecting him to marry her. In all honesty, being a part of this intense class and law firm was a bit stressful. She _desperately_ needed something (or someone) to keep her calm, and this guy happened to do the job just right. Buff Frank Delfino and his electric personality. Something about him was just so... attractive.

'Meet me. Car. I'm outside.' Frank Delfino, 1:43 PM

Laurel licked her lips when the text message popped up on her phone. She quickly grabbed it before any person in her study group could ever get a glance at the message. It almost felt dangerous knowing that they could get caught at any moment for what they were doing, and certainly could get in some serious trouble. If Annalise cared enough, she could fire the both of them for what they were doing together.

"Um, since when did texting become more important than studying for our exams?" Michaela Pratt challenged, setting her pencil down on the glass table in front of them. All of the group had met at the Keating household to study for their upcoming exams. "I ignore my calls from Aiden just so I can study, I don't see who could be so important that you need to text right now."

Laurel rolled her eyes. Michaela had been all too quick to shove her diamond rock in everybody's faces. She was engaged to the 'love of her life' Aiden Walker, and there probably wasn't a day that she didn't bring him up. It showed dedication, she guessed.

"I don't see why it concerns you," Laurel spat back. "I never told you not to talk to Aiden while we're studying."

"Suit yourself. Stuff like this is what's going to get you a lower grade than all of us on your exams," Michaela warned, as if her advice was actually helpful.

Laurel couldn't help but roll her eyes once again.

"And that must be why Frank thinks _you're_ the shooting star of the group?" she challenged, folding her arms.

Michaela pursed her lips for a moment, and then argued, "He's stupid. Since when does what Frank says mean anything to you, anyways? You were the one spitting fire about how how he's a misogynistic ass after the first day of class."

She decided it was best not to try and argue with Michaela again. She just sighed and got up from the table. Michaela didn't seem to truly care about her doing things besides studying during their study time, as she didn't even blink when Laurel left the Keating household. She went outside, where she saw Frank's car was parked. He smirked at her from the driver's seat, and unlocked the door. Without hesitation, Laurel hopped into the other seat of his car, immediately bending over and placing a chaste kiss on his lips.

"Oh, come on," he muttered. "I drive all the way here on my day off from work, and that's what I get? I think I deserve a little more than a short one."

Laurel giggled quietly and leaned back in again, this time kissing him much rougher. Her hands yanked the collar of his shirt, deepening it, while he ran his hands through her soft brown hair. He was almost left breathless by the second kiss, which was obviously much longer and more passionate than the first.

"I can't be gone too long. Michaela was already on my ass about how I was 'texting during our study time'," she rolled her eyes at Michaela's actions for the third time. "I don't understand why she's even concerned about what I do. Wouldn't it be _better_ for her if I failed the exams? It would eliminate some of her competition, so she could get Annalise to like her even more, which is clearly what everyone wants around here."

"You are _not_ going to fail the exams," Frank assured her, reaching over and giving her hand a squeeze.

"You haven't seen me in class lately," she sighed. "Usually, I'm always ready to answer whatever question Annalise springs on us. Now, I'm barely catching up with my work for the firm, and I never have any of those crazy good ideas to help with her cases. Everyone else is contributing the good stuff, and I'm just sitting on the sidelines and pretending like I'm searching hard for answers, but I'm pretty sure Annalise is starting to get suspicious to why I'm not coming up with any ideas for her cases. And along with that, I'm never prepared in class! I've always been ready to answer her surprise-not-really class questions, but then now, I'm fearing that she'll call on me because I never know the answer. And then she'll think I'm stupid."

Frank chuckled again and cut her off with a short kiss.

"Frank.." she mumbled.

"You worry _way_ too much," he laughed. "Laurel, you're one of the smartest people in that class. Annalise would never think you're stupid. In fact, you're _not_ stupid, so she'll never think that. You're freaking out for no reason."

She hated what he did to her. The way he looked at her and spoke to her sometimes.. dammit, she found herself falling for him, for real, when he said stuff like this. She had to be honest with herself, he did say some pretty douchey things from time to time, but she had accepted that about him. She almost forgot about the bad things he had said in the past when he said the slightest sweet comment. And times like these were the ones where she found herself really falling for him, beyond the frequent dirty sex thing.

They weren't dating. That was a _key_ thing to know. They were in no way in a real relationship. This was a scandalous little fling they had going on, and so much harm would come out of taking this public. No, they didn't go on dates. They didn't watch movies together, cuddle up by the fireplace, go out to fancy restaurants, shower each other with mushy talk. That wasn't them, and Laurel was certain they'd never be anything like that. Even if they did end up dating, she couldn't see a mushy relationship like that happening with Frank Delfino and herself.

But she still needed to stop denying that her attraction was starting to go beyond wanting to rip his clothes off when she looked into his eyes. It was... romantic, actually. Sometimes she didn't even want to have sex with him, she just wanted to be with him and be in his presence. She liked spending time with him, although she could never tell him that, or he'd get it. He had this thing where he could read how she felt about him. He knew when she wanted him, and she was worried that he'd already figured out that she wanted more than what they currently had.

One small problem.. Laurel had a boyfriend. A good, sweet, boyfriend. He was this legal aid guy named Kan. He was nice and she liked him a lot. Well, she certainly _did_ like him a lot, especially when they first met. But the interest, undeniably, was fading slowly. Especially as she spent more time with Frank, she lost more interest in Kan. She didn't mean to do this whole cheating thing. She was never _that_ girl. And if you'd asked her before the situation, she would have said that cheaters were stupid and terrible. She was all anti-cheating.. until she became a cheater herself. Frank knew about her boyfriend, but that didn't stop him from wanting her any less. She didn't cheat on Frank with Kan, it was the other way around. She cheated on Kan with Frank.

"You look like you're thinking quite a bit," Frank pointed out.

Dammit, there he was again, able to read her so easily.

"Second thoughts about Kan?" he asked, which was more than scary.

She snapped out of her thoughts, and faced Frank.

"Maybe.." she muttered. "How the hell did you-"

"Wild guess. And also, Kan's calling you right now, so he popped into my mind," Frank notified her.

Her head shot downwards to see her ringing cell phone. She sighed, contemplating whether she should answer it or not. With an approving nod from Frank, she picked the phone up and pressed the 'accept' button, taking Kan's call.

"H-hey, Kan. What's up?" she asked.

 _"Hey there!" he exclaimed. "I know you're probably crazy busy as usual, but I was wondering if you wanted to come get Chinese food or something. I feel like having a lazy night, and I've been missing you all day at work. It would be awesome if you could join me tonight."_

She knew she'd feel bad declining, but she also knew she'd feel bad accepting his offer and facing him after she'd cheated on him once again, as if she hadn't already done it more than countable times. Frank was watching her and listening to the conversation as best he could on his end, since he wasn't able to hear what Kan was saying. Sometimes he did wish Laurel and Kan weren't together. Well, why would he _want_ them together? He did have some feelings for Laurel, and whether those feelings were purely sexual or beyond that was yet to be determined, but he knew he didn't want her in a relationship with another man, possibly screwing him. It would kill him if he knew she and Kan were also sleeping together, but for now, he wasn't going to assume they were. It wasn't something he could ask about, either. He couldn't just pop out the question and ask if she was sleeping with him. It wasn't the thing to do.

"Oh, man.. I really.. I really want to, but I can't! My exams are coming up, and I'm stuck at this study group. If I fail, then my whole law career will be screwed," she explained, even though it was a partial lie. She wasn't exactly _at_ the study group, but she wasn't _not_ at it, either.

 _"I understand," he said. He always understood. He was Kan! "Hopefully once those killer exams are over, we can get some quality alone time in. Laur, I seriously have been missing you. We barely see each other anymore, and your calls have been dropping in frequency. I mean, I know.. I get it. I get that being a law student for somebody like Annalise is stressful. I just hope that you'll still find some time for me."_

"Of course I will!" Laurel exclaimed. "You're my boyfriend, Kan. I'm sorry I've been so busy.. I really want to see you again, but I do have a lot on my plate. But exams are going to be over soon, and I'll be able to see you as much as possible after that. Thank you for being so understanding, and so good to me throughout this whole thing."

Frank's face fell listening to this. He hated the way it sounded when she called Kan her boyfriend. It was absolutely _disgusting_. He hated it. So much. When she was setting her phone down, he looked away, pretending as if he hadn't been thinking hard about the phone conversation as she was speaking. She glanced over at him apologetically.

"Look, I know I need to break up with him," she told him. "I don't want to be _that_ girl anymore. And, it's not fair to you. So, I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" he scoffed, putting his smug face back on. "Honestly, I feel sorry for Kan. I'm the one that's about to screw his girlfriend right in this car." He smirked at her. "If you want to break up with him for your own guilt reasons, do that. But I'm not the one making you break up with him. I don't give a crap if you're with him. If you're going to apologize to anyone, let it be him. I feel pretty good right now. Look where I am.."

She actually thought he had emotions about how she was with Kan, but apparently, he didn't care. And maybe that was something she liked about him. He wasn't an easy guy to get. Sometimes she thought she had him all the way, and other times, she thought she only had him because of her body. But throughout this all, she was still having the time of her life sneaking around with him. Kicking out those extra emotions and feelings made this thing way easier between them. He didn't expect her to be the perfect little good girl all the time like everybody else did. Her worst side could come out, and Frank would get it. He understood the darkness in people.

She dropped her apologetic look and replaced it with a lustful smirk. The look on her face was telling Frank that she was about to devour him, and he was right when he read her facial expression.

"Why don't you show me an example of the horrible thing I'm doing behind Kan's back?"

"I can show you tons of examples," he chuckled bitterly, lowering his head down teasingly so his lips were dangling around Laurel's face, yet not kissing her. "I can show you in this car, I can show you on that porch, I can show you behind a tree, and I can pretty much show you freakin' anywhere."

"Stupid me. I _know_ you can show me," she laughed. "But wouldn't you rather have me show you?"

He raised his eyebrows in confusion, but his questions were quickly answered when Laurel climbed over the barrier cupholders and crap splitting them, and straddled herself against Frank's hips. She let her legs hang off the edge of the seat, dangling into the back area of the car. She cupped Frank's cheeks, offering him the most seductive eyes possible. He was dominated. She could tell. She had some major effect on him, because his eyes couldn't leave her. He was so damn seduced. He wanted her so damn badly.

"Show me exactly what you can do," he whispered into her ears in a husky tone, his breaths growing louder as Laurel stroked the crotch of his pants teasingly.

He was hardening at her touch, and she could feel it easily. Her hand slowly and provokingly lingered around the loop of his belt buckle. He was itching for her to take it off, but she heightened the effect on him by messing with him. Oh, she knew he wanted her so badly by the sound of the erotic moans escaping his mouth. He didn't mean to moan that way.. she was just so teasing with him. It was uncontrollable.

"Dammit, Laurel!" he groaned, impatient for her to make a move.

She laughed proudly at what she had done to him, and then finally cured his anxiety by whipping his belt off, tossing it on the adjacent seat. Her lips finally met his, relieving the massive desire he had for her. Man, he had been dying for this ever since she straddled onto him. She climbed up higher so she was way above him now, but their lips were still pressed together. She felt his tongue pushing against hers, and the erotic pleasures were traveling to her. Just the wetness she needed for what she was about to do...

Hovering above him, she made enough space to hastily push his pants down so they were at his ankles. The rough yank of his pants was enough to drag his boxers down, too, exposing his erect cock. Her eyes didn't even need to look at it. She knew exactly what to do. Her lips stayed fiercely pressed against Frank's, while the lust for her continued to grow. He knew her perfect ass was right there, hidden by that miniskirt that he wanted to just rip off so badly. He wasn't sure this kind of sexual desire was a healthy thing. He had never been so turned on in his lifetime. He had never wanted a woman the way he wanted Laurel Castillo.

They were masters at quickies. There was no need to get all the stupid clothes off; they just needed to get enough off to have sex. With that in mind, she dragged her own panties down her long, creamy legs. She let the panties fall to the floor of the car, and then re-positioned herself so she could ride Frank. The burning desire inside of him was so obvious with the blood that had rushed to his member. There was always that terrible moment where the condom had to be put on, and it was there. Both of them always carried spares around because they knew what they were doing with each other. It was a bit alarming- she had a huge amount sitting in her purse. If any of her 'friends' (or whatever they were) saw the contents of her purse, they'd be quite alarmed and concerned, and would probably wonder if she was some sort of sex addict. And maybe she was, but only for Frank. Finally, just _finally_ , the tension that had been built up was released as Laurel held his cock in place, and then affirmed her position on him. She let his cock slide into her slowly until it was pushed as far as it could go in.

"Fucking.. Christ!" he groaned, his head tilting backwards. His eyes were closed while he felt the sensation Laurel created for him.

She came back up, releasing a few inches out, and then closing the distance again. She continued this pattern, moving up and down his member at a constant pace that kept building up the burn inside of Frank. He was almost positive that he was going to experience premature ejaculation from the way Laurel was pleasing him.

" _Laurel_ ," he moaned loudly- much louder than before.

Her eyes widened, but she didn't stop pumping. Her pace did get slower, watching his face turn red.

"Did you seriously just...?" she laughed, in total shock, pulling out of him completely. " _Somebody_ was turned on today."

"Hey!" he yelled. "Shut up, let me finish you off. I can't let you go until _you_ orgasm."

"As if," she rolled her eyes. "Clearly, I'm not as horny as you are today. I don't think you've ever finished in less than five minutes. This must be some sort of sex record!"

"Please leave my car before this gets anymore awkward than it already is," he said with annoyance in his voice.

"You want me to leave?" she asked, knowing it wasn't true. By the look on his face, she _knew_ he wanted her to stay. "You don't want to finish me off? You'll let a woman leave you dissatisfied?"

"You are _not_ dissatisfied. And besides, your goal was to pleasure me!" he argued. "You didn't give me the opportunity to return the favor because you were too busy riding me like a maniac. How would a guy not get turned on by that?"

"I underestimated the effect I had on you, Mister Delfino," she teased.

His nostrils flared. Taking action, he plunged two fingers into Laurel's clit, immediately causing her to moan loudly, taking by surprise. Her breaths grew rapid and heavy. She let her head rest on Frank's shoulder, trying to keep her breaths steady while he twirled two fingers inside of her. He increased his game by pushing in a third finger, prompting her mouth to open into a giant 'o' shape, releasing quiet moans.

"My God, _Frank_!" she cried out, about ready to bite into his shoulder.

"I knew I could make you just as turned on," he whispered seductively into her ear while he kept thrusting his fingers.

And he accomplished it. He got her to orgasm. She was practically screaming his name out. It was a lot bigger of an orgasm than the quick ejaculation he experienced. She was full-on breathless. She swallowed hard. Once they had both finished off, they just sat that way, both surprised by themselves. Her head was draped against his chest. She was sitting on his lap, staring out the window. His hands were wrapped around her, although he barely noticed it.

"I should get back," she admitted, and climbed off of Frank's lap.

She dragged her panties back up her legs, and adjusted her skirt so it was proper again. He watched her start moving towards the other seat, and decided to pull his pants and boxers up. He looped his belt back. As she was exiting his car, he playfully smacked her rear, watching her look over at him in shock.

"You did _not_!" she cried.

"You're Frank's girl now. Frank likes to be playful with his girls," he joked.

"First of all, I am _not_ Frank's girl, and second of all, stop talking about yourself in the third person," she warned him.

"Oh right. I forgot that you're Kan's girl. It just didn't seem that way when you were screaming my name out, but whatever floats your boat, princess," he smirked. "By the way, you might wanna trash this condom. It's also funny that this is the product of Frank, not Kan. Hmm?"

Laurel rolled her eyes.

"I am _not_ throwing that away here," she told him. "Do you seriously think Annalise Keating won't notice a condom in her trash that clearly doesn't belong to her? I'm pretty sure she has strict policies about her students not having sex in her house and office."

"We'll need to do it there one time. It'll be a fun challenge," he toyed, twirling a strand of her silky brown hair.

"You can go throw it away yourself. It _is_ a product of Frank, after all," she smirked proudly, and then walked away from his car.

He smiled to himself. What a girl Laurel Castillo was...


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm having so many feels right now after the last episode (yes, yes I got up-to-date with the show). Despite the fact that I had so many exams this week and so much homework, I still managed to obsess over the show and watch the 3 episodes of season 2. And man, Frank and Laurel in 2x03 gave me feels. I'm just really hoping Laurel will stay by him even when she *spoiler if you're not up to date* finds out what he did to Lila (and I truly hope there's more to Frank's story with that).. but I can't help but ship them :( I was squealing the whole way when Laurel was trying to get to know him AND ESPECIALLY WHEN SHE OFFICIALLY ADMITTED TO BONNIE THAT SHE LIKES FRANK AND WANTS TO GET TO KNOW HIM. It's so cute how Laurel's so interested in trying to get to know him now. She really doesn't want him to feel like a Gigolo, hmm? Anyways, sorry for this irrelevant thing I just wrote..**

CHAPTER 2

Frank's manly hands grabbed the hem of Laurel's tank top and started to pull it off, smirking up at her as he did so. Their desire-filled eyes locked for a moment before he lifted the tank top up and off of her completely, and then tossed it to the floor. He pushed Laurel down on his bed so that he was on top of her, and started his tongue off on her neck, and ran it down her body- between her breasts, and finally her stomach. He stroked her stomach with his fingers, feeling the way she was breathing so heavily from his touch.

The very steamy moment they were having was once again cut off by the sound of Laurel's phone ringing. The annoying ringtone finally stopped when she shifted over on the bed to reach for her phone. And of course, it was Kan that was calling her. Frank sighed loudly to express how bored he was while she was on the phone. She glared at him sternly, trying to ensure that he wouldn't be heard by Kan through the phone.

 _"Laurel, please tell me you're free tonight. It's a Friday night. You can't possibly have exams tomorrow."_

She scratched her head, not knowing what to say. It was true, she didn't have exams the next day, but that didn't mean she wouldn't have any of Annalise's cases to work on. Unfortunately, the one time she wished she had a case she could say she was working on, she didn't have one. Now, she could always lie to Kan, since she was no stranger to that. She wasn't prepared to go hang out with Kan that night at all. She was beyond perfectly fine right where she was with Frank.

"This case Annalise assigned me is really important, and I know I've been busy all week, but you'll have to try and understand, this is like, the busiest I'll get. What about tomorrow? Are you free tomorrow?" she asked.

 _"Alright, I'm down for tomorrow. Bummed you can't make it tonight, though. I get it. Law school, I've been there. And on top of that, you've got an intense boss. I barely even know the woman, but I can tell how intense she is. Good luck on your case."_

"Thank you," she politely said. "See you tomorrow."

 _"Mhm, yeah. Bye."_

She sighed when she ended the call and put the phone back on the bedside table. She turned back to face Frank, and gave him that seductive look she couldn't help but have whenever she was around him.

"Where were we?" she asked.

Frank folded his arms.

"Well, we _were_ about to have some fun, but now, you're leaving," he ordered, getting off the bed. He picked up her tank top from the floor, and tossed it back to her. She raised her eyebrows, shocked by what he was saying.

"Seriously?" she said, shocked.

"Yeah, seriously," he rolled his eyes. "Maybe you should run home to the legal aid boyfriend and stop screwing around with me."

Laurel was genuinely surprised. She raised her eyebrows, eyeing him and trying to find some hint of him not being serious. But it didn't feel like the way it did when he told her to get out of the car the other day because she got him to finish off so early. She knew he didn't really want her to leave that day, but this time, it felt different. He looked serious.

"Frank-" she began.

He cut her off, "No, I'm not kidding. I'm not going to be your gigolo for the rest of your life, so it's better if this ends now."

She slid the tank top back over her head, and then got off of his bed. She slid her heels on when she reached the door. He watched her with a brooding look on his face. She glanced at him one last time, but he didn't tell her to stay; he continued to wait for her to leave. She rolled her eyes at this, opened the door, and walked out. Neither of them were satisfied that night, to say the least.

* * *

Laurel didn't go to Kan's place that night. There was no way she could focus on Kan that night when Frank was on her mind like this. She kept trying to figure out what went wrong, and it was somewhat clear, but with Frank, she never knew. His mood completely changed after she got off the phone with Kan, and he called himself a gigolo, so it seemed to be 1) he was jealous that she was dating Kan, or 2) he was looking for more than just sex with her... or both. She smiled at the thought of Frank actually liking her.

The next day, unfortunately Annalise got a surprise new case, and there was no time to wait. The trial was coming up, and they had to find compelling evidence as soon as possible. The law wouldn't wait for the weekend to end, so of course, the students had to give up their Saturday-fun-time for some hardcore law work with Annalise.

But, she did ask to leave a little bit early so she could go spend time with Kan, but that wasn't exactly the case. After thoroughly thinking through all the possible outcomes for this situation, she realized that none of them ended well for Kan. _He_ was a great guy, but she made a horrible mistake. It really was an "it's not you, it's me" situation. If she stayed with him, she was only hurting him more. The idea of continuing to date him while she was having a thing with somebody else was awful for her. She couldn't just be with Kan because he was a good guy.

So, she was going to break up with Kan, and she had the decency to do it in person.

"..so, in conclusion, Mr. Maxwell killed his wife out of rage when he found out she was having an affair with his his dear best friend Sean, and planted the evidence in his house, so it made it look like Sean killed Mr. Maxwell's wife out of rage because he was jealous that she wouldn't leave Mr. Maxwell for him."

"Very good _theory_ , Mister Walsh, but that is completely just pure speculation. The jury will never accept your speculation against Mr. Maxwell," Annalise reminded. "So, our goal by the end of today is to find some concrete evidence, either supporting Connor's theory, or just anything that will solidly lead the jury to doubt Sean's involvement in the murder," Annalise explained. "I'll be back to see what you've found later. _I_ am going to go question Sean myself."

Laurel sighed when Annalise left the room, and picked up the case file to study it more. She believed in Connor's theory- it made perfect sense. Jealousy could have easily been a motive for Mr. Maxwell to kill his wife. The only hard part was finding evidence. It was so easy to come up with a million theories about who killed who, but the only thing stopping them from taking these theories to the court room was the fact that they had no way of showing their theories were true.

"Shouldn't you have already read the case?" Michaela asked, causing Laurel to roll her eyes.

"I _did_ ," she answered. "I'm re-reading it to see if I missed anything that could help prove Connor's theory."

Just then, Frank emerged in the room, holding a steaming cup of coffee in one of his hands. When Laurel heard the footsteps, she turned around. Her eyes locked with Frank's, and she immediately dropped the case file, got up from the couch, and walked up to him. The other students looked at her with confusion in their eyes.

"Frank, can I talk to you about the Sean case?" she asked, giving him a clear look in her eyes that said she didn't want to talk about the Sean case.

"Um, I think you should keep your questions for Annalise.. or go see Bonnie, she's in the other room," Frank advised.

She gave him another look.

"Fine," he gave in, and the two of them walked to Annalise's kitchen.

"What do you want?" Frank asked, raising his eyebrows. "I saw the way the rat packed looked at us when you came up to me. Are you trying to get our asses busted for something we're no longer doing?"

"No," Laurel responded, biting her lip. "Why are you suddenly mad at me? I thought we _both_ were okay with what we were doing-"

"Of course you don't get it. I didn't tell you," he rolled his eyes. "The student of the month thing has gone on for too many months now. I should probably move on to my next student. Is Michaela still engaged to that Aiden guy? Do you think she'd want to be my next target?"

Normally, Laurel would have been offended that he was saying she was just another 'student of the month', but she knew this was all his way of being defensive. She had learned to read him pretty well, too. Throwing Michaela in there was just a way to try and hurt her because _he_ was upset.

"Oh, really?" Laurel laughed, knowing it wasn't true. "You think I'm going to believe that I'm your 'student of the month', and now you're going to try and get with Michaela? These are obviously your attempts of pissing me off, and they're not working."

"What? You think you're something more to me than a hook-up?" he scoffed. "You wish."

She stepped closer to him. He was always the one doing the seducing.. the getting in her head. But this time, that wouldn't be the case.

"Go screw her. Go screw any girl you want, but I know you're not going to be able to forget about me just like that," she challenged, leaning closer to his ear. "I know you'll never admit it, but I mean more to you than just sex. You haven't kept me around only because you want to have sex with me, or you could have found another girl to do it with. There are plenty of sleazy girls that are crawling around bars, and you know damn well you could have gotten in their pants if you tried. But you _won't_ try because I'm in your head."

Frank rolled his eyes.

"Don't make me tell Annalise you're slacking off from your work," he warned. "Get back to work, Miss Castillo."

She scoffed.

" _Miss Castillo_?"

"Yeah. Sean's case isn't going to solve itself, so I suggest you get back in there and help the rest of the rat pack get their work done."

Laurel rolled her eyes, storming back into the other room. Michaela looked up at her, although that was the last face she wanted to see- the student Frank claimed was next in his student sex conquest. She knew it wasn't true, and she knew it was all to hurt her because he was mad about Kan. And even though she knew it, it still hurt her anyway.

To her surprise, Michaela asked, "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," she stammered. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"I don't know. You look.. sad," Michaela responded, analyzing Laurel's face. "And I do know that Frank can be a bit of an asshole sometimes. It's hard to get any questions in there. He usually just makes us feel bad about ourselves."

"He's not that bad," she defended.

Michaela raised her eyebrows.

"You're defending him after whatever he just said to you that made you look this way?" Michaela questioned. "I'm thinking you're either screwing him or he scared the living hell out of you, because that's not normal."

"Oh, I'll bet my money that she's screwing him!" Connor exclaimed.

And just when she thought these people cared about her, they failed to impress her. Michaela's concern for her quickly turned into pestering her about what she was doing (in this case, defending Frank, which was a little more justifiable than usual, since he was a real dick to all the students sometimes).

Wes remained mute, as he usually did when they were all working together. It seemed that Asher and Connor were the ones to make the jokes, and occasionally Michaela joined in, as she was doing this time. Once again, Frank Delfino just had to come in and save her, didn't he? The bearded man entered the room where the Keating Five were working, and raised his eyebrows.

"Instead of making false accusations, why don't you rats do some real work?" Frank demanded, folding his arms. "I'm sure Annalise would be more than just pissed to find out she made a poor decision in picking the students to work for her."

That shut them up pretty well. Michaela, Connor, and Asher didn't even dare to look up into Frank's piercing eyes, but Laurel did. In fact, she stood up and backed him into the other room that they had just talked in. The rest of the Keating Five heard her get up, but they didn't question it. Frank had a way of making people afraid of him.

"I don't _need_ you to save me," she snapped. "I am not poor little Laurel Castillo who needs Frank to help her make her way through Middleton. I got here all on my own, and I'm not working for Annalise just because you got me here. I don't owe you anything for this. And you don't have to protect me from my co-workers just because we had some horrible, sloppy sex."

"Like I care about you," he rolled his eyes. "I was saving my own ass. The last thing I need is for everyone to find out about that 'horrible, sloppy sex', which I'm sure is an exaggeration, because you wouldn't have been moaning like that if it was so horrible."

Laurel folded her arms.

"Stop," she demanded. "Leave me alone, okay? Go conquer your next student."

She couldn't believe she was ever going to break up with her amazing boyfriend for this misogynistic ass. Kan was way better than this d-bag. He probably never really wanted a relationship with her, anyway. That random jealousy was probably because he thought another guy was screwing her, too, and as the possessive, misogynistic guy he was, he probably believed all woman should be the submissive to one man. And of course, he probably thought she was supposed to be under his control. As if he'd want to date her... she could barely imagine being in a relationship with him!

So, the plan to break up with Kan was off. That would make her life a whole lot easier, anyways. She wouldn't have to deal with the riskiness of having this scandalous fling with Frank anymore, so she could focus on her school and stop avoiding Bonnie and Annalise. She could also stop lying to her co-workers about who she was seeing. She'd keep telling them that she was going out to see Kan, but instead sneak away to hook up with Frank. It was disgusting, now that she thought about it.

"You and I both know I'm not going to do that."

Laurel raised her eyebrows.

"Actually, I don't know anything. I mean, I thought I was more than just a student of the month to you, but clearly I'm not. You like when girls are in relationships with other people, don't you? It makes the chase more fun. You get to play a better game! So, Michaela will be a real challenge. Engaged girls are even more fun to mess with," Laurel rolled her eyes.

"Laurel," he breathed out, looking at her genuinely. "Laurel, come on.."

"No. Don't look at me like that!" she cried.

"Like what?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Like you actually care about how I feel," she told him, bringing her hand to her forehead. "I don't want to play these games with you any longer, Frank. You don't want to be treated like a gigolo, but then you don't even give me a chance."

And then he kissed her.

It wasn't sexual like it was usually, but rather chaste and intimate. His hands didn't fly right towards her ass, but instead cupped her cheeks gently. It was so soft and so gentle that it didn't even feel like Frank was kissing her.

"This is the part where you tell me you have a boyfriend-" he began.

But she didn't say it. She didn't have to. They both knew it. And now she was wondering if she was going to break up with Kan again. Just a minute ago, she was completely convinced Frank was that same misogynistic ass from the first day they met, but now she was back to that thought where she wanted to break up with Kan because of her feelings for him. She knew she had them now. It was official. From the way his lips had touched her, it was so clear to her. Every fiber of her being wanted him in a nonsexual way when he kissed her like that.

So, she did it again. That was how she cut him off, instead of telling him she had a boyfriend. She just kissed him again, her hands running through his slick hair. The feeling of his beard pricking her skin only made it better. She liked it.

Footsteps alarmed the two of them, and they pulled away from each other immediately.

"You are such an asshole!" Laurel yelled convincingly. "It was _just_ a suggestion. Every time I have an idea for a case, you make me feel stupid about it!"

"Then stop trying to be that smartass girl from Brown!" he fired back.

Asher's eyebrows raised.

"Man, it is _intense_ in here," he commented. "Frankster, I'm sorry to interrupt this yelling sesh, but we may have found some evidence that can prove Connor's theory about how Mr. Maxwell framed Sean for his wife's murder. You both should see this."

Both of them went to see the impressive developments in the Maxwell-Sean case, although it was a bit disappointing that their first real, intimate kiss had been cut off. Frank was somewhat thankful for Asher's intrusive appearance, since it saved him from having to discuss his feelings, which he was _not_ in the mood to do. He knew Laurel had figured that it meant something to him, since the nature of it was so nonsexual, so obviously she was going to ask him about it. At least she couldn't do that with all her co-workers in the room, as well as since Kan was coming to pick her up for their date.

A knock on the door made Laurel realize that it was time. She was allowed to leave work now, and could have that enjoyable date with Kan that she was supposed to have! Unfortunately, her initial plan was to break up with him that night, but after that argument with Frank, she was about ready to stay with Kan. Of course, Frank complicated her life a million times more when he kissed her like that- he kissed her as if it meant something, and maybe it did, but she didn't want to break up with Kan just to find out that everything they were doing meant nothing to Frank.

"Legal aid boyfriend here?" Connor smirked.

Laurel just gave him a look before getting up from Annalise's couch and opening the door. She smiled when she saw Kan standing there, even though she knew he was coming. He hugged her briefly, and then leaned in to peck her lips. Frank watched closely from the corner of the room.

"Hey there," Kan greeted with a big grin on his face. "Man, I missed your lovely face. How are you?"

"I'm great," she answered, and pecked his lips again. "I'm really excited for tonight."

"Me too. We've seriously needed time together. All this law school stuff has been booking your schedule," he chuckled. "At least we're together tonight. You ready to go?"

"Mhm-" she answered, but then shook her head. "Just a minute. I left my jacket upstairs when I was talking to Annalise. Would you give me a sec?"

"Of course," Kan smiled.

Everyone was watching, of course. They always watched whenever there was something to take their focus off of the tedious work they had to do. Sometimes they loved their work, but other times, it got boring when they had so much of it to do.

"Hello," Kan greeted the others with a smile. "How's your case going?"

Michaela spoke up, "We made a breakthrough. Finally found some solid evidence to back up Connor's theory, so Annalise won't get pissed off that 'our lazy asses accomplished nothing in the entire day'." She laughed.

Kan grinned again.

"Yeah, I can see Annalise has been giving you guys crazy work to do. I can't believe she gave you guys a case to work on _all night_ yesterday!" Kan cried.

Michaela furrowed her eyebrows.

"What?" she asked. "Yesterday was like the only free day we've had in forever. I was honestly surprised that she didn't have some random case for us to work on. I just spent my time studying for exams, because I knew it was the only time I was going to get. Did Laurel tell you that we had a big case yesterday?"

"Maybe I misheard.." Kan muttered, but he knew what he heard damn well. "Did you guys have a study group last night or something?"

Connor and Michaela glanced at each other for a moment, figuring out that Laurel must have lied about her whereabouts to her boyfriend.

"Wait, didn't she say that she was with _Kan_ yesterday," Asher pointed out, finally figuring out like the other two. "I'm pretty sure she said that she was super excited to finally have a day off because she could spend the night with you. She turned down our study group last night to be with you-"

Frank smirked from the corner. He knew exactly why Laurel's relationship falling apart gave him pleasure. And just at that moment, she arrived at the top of the staircase with her jacket in hand. She smiled cluelessly, not knowing that Kan had been figuring her game out.

"I'm ready to go," she announced, not realizing that they wouldn't be having their perfect date night anymore.

"Laurel," he said sternly. "We need to talk."

She raised her eyebrows. Those words were never good.


End file.
